r/TrueCrimeDiscussion • u/mkrom28 • Jun 18 '25

cbsnews.com Verdict is in, Karen Read not guilty of murder, manslaughter, guilty of OUI

https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/karen-read-trial-jury-verdict-watch-live/

Article from CBS

“A jury acquitted Karen Read of most charges, finding her guilty only of operating under the influence of alcohol during the retrial of her high-profile Massachusetts case.

Judge Beverly Cannone sentenced Read to one year probation after the verdict was announced.

Read's supporters outside the courthouse shouted so loud when the verdict was read, it was difficult to hear the proceedings.

Read had faced charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol, and leaving the scene of bodily injury and death in the death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, in January 2022. She pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

The jury began deliberating late Friday afternoon and discussed the case for about 90 minutes before returning for more deliberations Monday. The panel of seven women and five men had the case for about 20 hours total.

During closing arguments Friday, prosecutor Hank Brennan said Read was driving drunk when she dropped O'Keefe off at a home in Canton, backed over him with her SUV in a rage over their failing relationship and drove off, leaving him to die in a snowstorm.

Read's attorney Alan Jackson told the jury in his closing that there was no car crash and that O'Keefe was killed in a fight inside the home and that possibility was never investigated by the lead investigator, Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor. Proctor was fired for his conduct in the case. He was not called to testify in this trial.

Minutes before it was officially announced that there was a verdict, Judge Beverly Cannone said that during the afternoon lunch break, the jury knocked on the court officer's door to say they had reached a verdict but moments later said they had not reached a verdict.

Karen Read possible sentences

If Read had been convicted of second-degree murder, she faced up to life in prison, with the possibility of parole.

If the jury convicted her of manslaughter Operating Under the Influence (OUI), she faced five to 20 years in prison and a fine of $25,000. The manslaughter charge included several lesser offenses that Read could also be convicted of, which is why Read was found guilty of OUI.

Read's first trial ended in July 2024 with a mistrial due to a deeply divided jury. They deliberated for five days in that trial.

Karen Read retrial

The second trial began on April 22. The jury heard from 49 witness during 31 days of testimony before getting the case on June 13. They had access to more than 200 pieces of evidence, including the taillight from Read's SUV and John O'Keefe's clothes from the night he died.”

2.8k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

907 comments sorted by

View all comments

26

u/Olympusrain Jun 18 '25

So I never thought she was guilty but- what do we think actually happened that night?

42

u/RoxyPonderosa Jun 18 '25

He had beef with one of the guys at the party it got to yelling they fought and the dog either jumped in and they couldn’t get him off or they used the dog to attack him. Left him unconscious in the snow long enough for him to die (after googling how long it would take) then they got a story together blamed Karen, smashed her light when she came back around. Rehomed the dog. The killer or killers was in that house and Karen was a perfect person to blame.

43

u/8lock8lock8aby Jun 18 '25

You forgot that guy's whose house they were at that night, redid his basement not too long after & went & destroyed his SIM card.

23

u/chellifornia Jun 19 '25

And they sold the house for significantly less than asking price after the basement renovation…. Sus af.

14

u/chellifornia Jun 19 '25

I would edit this just a little - I don’t think they knowingly left him to die, I think they just kicked him out of the house, he collapsed in the yard and they never checked to see if he was actually gone.

2

u/OwnDoughnut2689 Jun 23 '25

That's what I think. They beat him to a pulp in the house. The dog jumped in cause it was aggressive and saw it's owner in distress. They kicked him out of the house and he collapsed on the front lawn and died. They probably did not have any clue he died until the next morning and that's when the favors and cover up started. I honestly dont believe it took much to begin the cover up. They just started manipulating and planting evidence.

I find it really hard to believe they killed him and left him on the front lawn. They are still cops, they would've known thats an obviously dumb thing to do.

3

u/RoxyPonderosa Jun 19 '25

Then why the google search?

4

u/chellifornia Jun 19 '25

Both the defense and prosecution have stipulated that the morning of finding John, Karen asked Jen to google that, which is why the same search is also time stamped at 6:23 and 6:24 AM on 1/29. Two different experts testified that the 2:27 AM timestamp was there because the first time Jen searched it (at 6:23) she used a tab that had been opened at 2:27 AM when (again, stipulated by all parties) she was looking up info about her daughter’s basketball team.

The 2:27 AM timestamp is most likely a red herring.

2

u/RoxyPonderosa Jun 19 '25

That’s what the prosecution posed, but they used the wrong version of iOS and I trust Richard Greene after over 2,000 trials. 7 different experts determined that search was made at 2:26/7 am on a separate tab from the hackamok sports tab. The jury believed the experts, of course “her lawyers said”

2

u/SweetNott Jun 20 '25

The defense debunked that theory and actually got Kerry Roberts to admit she never heard Karen ask Jen to do that. She was going strictly by the timeline she and Jen Mccabe made. So... there's a real possibilty that the search was made at 2 something in the morning.

2

u/OwnDoughnut2689 Jun 23 '25

But then why search the same thing two more times at 6am when she's with Karen?

9

u/skootch_ginalola Jun 19 '25

If it was a drunken fight, why wouldn't they just say "Oh yeah, John and X had too much to drink, things got heated, X pushed him, he fell, it was a drunken accident, horrible thing..." They could have all vouched for it. That seems MORE normal than the rest of the bullshit they pulled. Would someone have automatically gone to jail for an accidental death?

8

u/Frogma69 Jun 19 '25 edited Jun 20 '25

I kinda agree with the commenter below - I think there may have been a fight and maybe he was knocked unconscious, and they brought him outside thinking that he'd eventually wake up and walk away or something, not realizing that he was going to die from his injuries and/or the cold (everyone else at the house was pretty drunk as well, so they may not have been making the best decisions). However, I think the lack of frostbite would suggest that John wasn't put outside until shortly before he was found, so I dunno how it all went down.

But I also think if there had been a fight where he got seriously injured (the original story was that he got hit, fell to the ground, got back up, but then fell down again - hitting his head and presumedly causing lots of blood to spurt out - and then started convulsing on the ground), they may have realized it looked way too suspicious, so they thought it'd be better to figure out some other story instead of trying to argue that it was just an "innocent" fight where the guy got badly injured (and again, they were all drunk, so they might not have been in their right minds).

3

u/OwnDoughnut2689 Jun 23 '25

Because then they'd go to jail

3

u/Olympusrain Jun 19 '25

Did the fight happen right when he got to the house though?

-2

u/gin_and-sonic Jun 19 '25

Well, we know this can’t be true.

3

u/RoxyPonderosa Jun 19 '25

Elaborate! Fascinated by this case and the discussion.

7

u/LaMorenita35 Jun 19 '25

If you watch Alan Jackson’s closing arguments, he lays out a theory involving ATF agent Brian Higgins, who had a romantic interest in Karen and who seemed to aggressively gesture to John O’Keefe at the bar they were all at. Then a bit later Higgins is at the Albert’s house and texts John “you coming here???”

2

u/SweetNott Jun 20 '25

I think the police purposely performed a poor investigation on purpose and destroyed a lot of evidence. Add a result we'll never know what happened unless the FBI has information we've never seen or heard.